Contentious meeting results in Bay City group tasked with setting job description, salary for city manager opening

View full sizeThe Bay City Commission met Monday, Feb. 11, to discuss hiring a new city manager.Justin Engel | MLive

BAY CITY, MI — The Bay City Commission formed a subcommittee to set a salary range and define a job description for the vacant city manager post.

Mayor Chris Shannon and Commission President Lori Dufresne, Vice President Chris Girard and Sergeant-at-Arms Lynn Stamiris will meet this week to settle on those details after commissioners approved their task during a Monday, Feb. 11, meeting.

The decision came during a contentious gathering where commissioners debated the merits of hiring an outside firm — for about $15,000 to $20,000, based on four proposals — to find city manager job candidates versus forming an internal advisory committee which would perform the same task.

Officials did not vote on whether to hire a search firm or not.

That decision may come at a 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 18, meeting at the Pere Marquette Depot, 1000 Adams, where the commission as a whole may vote on the subcommittee's salary and job description recommendations.

Those commissioners in favor of hiring a search firm argued such a company would provide professional expertise in fielding candidates to replace Robert Belleman, who stepped down as city manager earlier this month to take the job as Saginaw County controller.

Commissioners against hiring a firm say such an endeavor would cost too much money.

Commissioner Elizabeth Peters, the 2nd Ward’s representative, was an opponent of hiring an outside firm.

“As important as this is, I think we should post (the job opening) for a month or two months,” she said. “We haven’t even posted the doggone thing yet. I’d like to see us save $15, 000 to $20,000.

“We’re assuming we’re not going to get good resumes from the get-go. I want to start saving money on everything.”

She was critical of commissioners who pushed for hiring an outside firm.

“I don’t get why you guys are so intent to spend $20,000,” she said. “Would you do that at home with your own money? It sounds like you don’t want to be bothered with the work.”

Stamiris, 1st Ward commissioner, said it would “be a nightmare” attempting to gather commissioners during meetings focusing on finding city manager candidates.

“Plus there are political issues between a lot of us that isn’t going to make it easy either,” Stamiris said. “A headhunter would have a better go-at-it outside the state and inside the state. It’s the most important thing we have to do as a commission; to hire someone.

“I know it’s going to cost money, but we certainly have approved studies in the past that were more than this, for less important issues,” he added. “It’s our No. 1 charge as a commission to do this.”

Girard said, based on past and ongoing job searches not involving outside firms, the extended timeline for hiring positions suggested hiring a new city manager could take a long time.

“In the initial gathering, I want to make sure we get the best candidate pool,” said Girard, 6th Ward representative. “If we don’t, there could be a lot of scrutiny.”

The fourth group, the Michigan Municipal League, doesn’t list a precise expense. The firm’s proposal indicates it will perform a candidate search for 10 percent of the city manager’s annual salary along with additional costs including advertising and background checks.